0-2 Bucs Glad Home Opener On Tap

Green Bay Wins By 8, But It's Not That Close

GREEN BAY — Unfair as it is to contrast Brett Favre with any other quarterback, Trent Dilfer again made it altogether too inviting Sunday.

Favre's Green Bay Packers beat Dilfer's Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the fourth time in a little more than 11 months, and the 23-15 score made it look much closer than it was.

The difference also was much more than a quarterback gap, even though Favre threw two touchdown passes while Dilfer served up three fumbles that bordered on inexcusable.

As Tampa coach Tony Dungy said after lopsided losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Packers, "It looks like in the off-season, teams in our division have improved a little bit more than we have."

The 0-2 Bucs spotted the 2-0 Packers field position and turnovers and knew it was a lethal dose of self-destruction, leaving them only with the hope of righting themselves against the Bears next Sunday in their home opener in a brand-new stadium. The luck of the Bears continues.

What made the Bucs-Packers game memorable was the first play of the fourth quarter, when Favre was laid out by Bucs defensive end Regan Upshaw and jumped up laughing.

With Dilfer in the locker room receiving intravenous fluids because of cramps, Favre rolled right with a 16-0 lead, ducked back under end Chidi Ahanotu and was steamrolled by the pursuing Upshaw. Favre's head snapped back, and Upshaw landed on top of him as the crowd of 60,124 gasped, suddenly caring less about their team's 25th straight Lambeau Field win.

But Favre popped up like a jack-in-the-box, practically beating Upshaw to his feet. Favre slapped Upshaw's helmet before Upshaw's teammates could do likewise, congratulating him on the hit of the day.

"I give him all the respect in the world," Upshaw said. "He got up like a soldier. He's the toughest quarterback in the league. He doesn't go down."

Two plays later Favre rifled a 38-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman that made it 23-0. Favre thrust his left fist in the air on the sideline and doffed a baseball cap, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Favre has started 95 games in a row. Dilfer is the second most durable quarterback in the NFL at 50. Before the half, Favre banged his left hand on a hit from Warren Sapp, but didn't miss a snap. Upshaw's hit looked like a knockout.

"Wasn't even close to knocking him out. Are you crazy?" Sapp said. "You can't knock him out. Trust me, you can't knock him out. You can wobble him, but you can't knock him out."

"It really never hurt, it just knocked me a little goofy," Favre said. "I think I told him it was a pretty good hit."

Upshaw said Favre didn't say anything.

"He just got up yelling and screaming, having fun," Upshaw said.

Dilfer felt cramps coming on at halftime. Dungy said a deep thigh bruise suffered last week prevented the quarterback from conditioning last week.

"It just wore down. When I went down with the cramp, it was everywhere," said Dilfer, who left the field on a cart and returned after it was 23-0.

Dilfer was sacked six times, three by Reggie White, who became the all-time Packer sacker by treating 300-pound tackles Jason Odom and Jerry Wunsch as if they were flaming liberals.

"We were taking it to them," White said, "and (Packers defensive tackle and ex-Buc) Santana Dotson came to us and said their defensive line had a better rating than ours, so we wanted to go out and not only prove to ourselves, but also to other people, that we're just as good as anybody in the league as a defensive line."

Though under pressure, Dilfer also held the ball out as if he were offering the Packers cheese and crackers.

"The fumbles on sacks really hurt us," Dungy said.

The first was on the Tampa 14 and led to a 10-0 start. The second was at the Green Bay 21 to end Tampa's only early sustained drive. The third was at the Green Bay 15 in the fourth quarter, before a 95-yard punt return by rookie Jacquez Green averted a shutout, and an 84-yard drive saved the Bucs from worse statistical embarrassment.

"It's very disappointing, not only to be 0-2 but also to be playing the way we're playing," Dungy said.

Last year, the Bucs started 5-0 and were called by some the team to beat this year.

"They still may be," Favre said.

"The Chicago Bears are right in our sights," Sapp said. "We've got to go out and play our game. Once we play our game, we can play with anybody."